Something About Mary
Not that I want to encourage people to talk out loud at the theater, but as the number Jolly Holiday got underway during Mary Poppins, I sensed some disappointment coming from Ken, my partner. I said nothing, knowing hed lean over a few seconds later. Four, three, two Aw, I miss the penguins. Yeah, I know. I do, too.
But when youre talking about popping a beloved property like Mary Poppins out of one medium (film) and plunking it into another (musical theater), youve got to decide whether theres profit in purism. Its a week since weve seen the show, produced by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh and freshly transferred from London, and crestfallen Ken is getting almost uncharacteristically curmudgeonly. Why do they have to fool around with a classic? he asks more or less rhetorically whenever we talk about it. I mean, I dont blame him: You hear theres a musical version of Mary Poppins coming in from London and umpteen expectations are raised in your mind. You want penguinsDisney and Mackintosh want money.
The truth, though, is Mary Poppins will likely be profitable. More than 40 years after its release, the six-time Oscar-winner retains one of the strongest brand names ever (thanks, also, to P.L. Travers original stories), and since Broadway is ever-increasingly about whats good to sell to the parents of kids who will whine incessantly until they see the show, thats probably enough reason to fool around with it.
I also think sometimes you have to take things on their own terms. While the stage musical is much darker than the film, there are advantages to this. Mary Poppinsplayed by a toothy, resolute, eerily creepy newcomer, Ashley Brownpossesses little of Julie Andrews innate goodness, but at least theres some brow-furrowed discipline coming out of her flying-nanny self toward the unruly children that inhabit the Banks household. (Presumably, the whiny kids demanding to see Mary Poppins will relate to these kids the most.) When Mary decides the best thing for these twerps is to fly away for a spell, she says its partly because she knows theyre good, but something about Browns painted smirk makes you think she really wants to whack them good. Youd think the presence of Marys friend Berta Chim Chim Cheree cheery Gavin Leewould leaven her dark side, but no go. Fortunately, the exuberant Lee lights up the stage whenever hes on it.
You also cant blame the kids for their insouciance: Father George is played terrifically by Daniel Jenkins as a man who likely sucks on lemons; mother Winifred is essayed delightfully by Broadway mainstay Rebecca Luker. The childrenplayed by Katherine Leigh Doherty and Matthew Gumley the night I attendedare not only right-on obnoxious, but have a marvelous stage presencetheyre haughty enough that while they hardly deserve to partake in Marys delirious gallivants into magical, iridescent universes, you know theyll ultimately reform.
Mary Poppins is directed with forceful propulsion by Richard Eyre and has spectacular choreography by Matthew Bourne. Together their work is enough to put across itheyre weak compared to the original score by the Sherman brothers. As befitting a Disney tuner, the overall design is like a new Crayola crayon box, with scintillating hues by set and costume designer Bob Crowley and lighting whiz Howard Harrison.
At a certain pointfor me it was the end, when Mary Poppins ascends above the audience, rising and rising into the etheryoure hard-pressed not to surrender to it. The best case scenario is youll also wish you could immerse yourself in a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious fantasy for the ages or be willing to stomach A Spoonful of Sugar for a chance to dance against the moon. I had a lump in my throat when Mary rose up into the stars at the end, Ken finally admitted. Yeah, I know. I did too.
Open run. New Amsterdam Theatre, 214 W. 42nd St. (betw. 7th & 8th Aves.), 212-239-6200; $20-$110.